GUEST COLUMNIST: Development should conform to downtown plan

Sunday

May 5, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The 2700 block of University Boulevard in the Capitol Park neighborhood consists of a few buildings on what is essentially a vacant lot.

By Anne Gibbons

The 2700 block of University Boulevard in the Capitol Park neighborhood consists of a few buildings on what is essentially a vacant lot.Developing this parcel of land for residential and retail use would meet with nearly universal approval from Tuscaloosa residents if the upgrades were made in harmony with the surrounding area. Unfortunately, on April 15, the Tuscaloosa Planning and Zoning Commission approved construction of a new development in the 2700 block that disregards the strategies of the 2010 Tuscaloosa Greater Downtown Plan.The guidelines laid out in the Greater Downtown Plan recommend that new development in the Capitol Park neighborhood should:Be “compatible with the existing historical architecture having porches, pitched roofs and elevated foundations.”Limit building heights “to no more than two and half stories.”Use “building materials” that emphasize “wood-like materials.”Ensure that residential land uses be “limited to single-family housing, two- to four-family [houses], and town homes.”The Greater Downtown Plan also recommends “that the Capitol Park Neighborhood be designated as a National Register Historic District as well as a local historic district to better protect the historical integrity of the area and encourage more compatible infill development.”But the GDP is far more than a list of do's and don'ts. It offers us — the people who live, work, worship, play, and shop in Tuscaloosa — a blueprint for success. It is our town's equivalent of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban's “process”: “The process is what you have to do day in and day out to be successful. We try to define the standard that we want everybody to work toward, adhere to, and do on a consistent basis.”This process was created by the Greater Downtown Advisory Committee, a group of 48 people with a longstanding interest in downtown Tuscaloosa and its adjoining neighborhoods. The committee included elected and appointed officials; members of the downtown business community, cultural arts groups and the African-American community; individuals interested in historic preservation; home builders and realtors; and people with an interest in transit and educational issues. Members of the advisory committee brought diverse points of view to the table. Through give and take, compromise and consensus, discussion and debate, those differing views were melded into a thoughtful, comprehensive, workable plan for developing and preserving downtown Tuscaloosa. The committee members deserve the thanks of all the city's residents. And the city's residents deserve to have city officials, whether elected or appointed, give consideration to the GDP's recommendations when reviewing proposals within the greater downtown area, “bounded by the Black Warrior River on the north, Queen City Avenue on the east, 15th Street on the south, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the west.”Situated across 28th Street, east of Capitol Park and the Old Tavern, the proposed structure in the 2700 block development would be a five-story, 221-bed apartment building. The GDP recommends building heights of “no more than two and half stories” for the Capitol Park Neighborhood.According to documentation submitted by the developer, “The proposed development will feature a brick, stucco, cast stone, and pre-cast panel ... exterior.” The GDP calls for “building materials” that emphasize “wood-like materials.”The proposed building, which would be more massive than the federal courthouse in downtown Tuscaloosa, fails to meet the plan's recommendation that new development in the Capitol Park neighborhood be “compatible with the existing historical architecture having porches, pitched roofs and elevated foundations.” If the site is rezoned BC, the developer points out that “there will be no parking requirement.” The GDP notes that “this historically significant area has experienced substantial encroachment of incompatible uses, and building types and parking areas that are appropriate in suburban locations, not within historic neighborhoods.” Eliminating zoning requirements would increase rather than curtail such encroachment.The discordant size and scale of the building, its absence of “building materials” that emphasize “wood-like materials,” and its incompatibility “with the existing historical architecture” should be reasons enough to reject the proposal. But here's one more.Two years ago, an EF4 tornado destroyed 12 percent of our town — 12 percent. With perseverance and determination we are rebuilding our community. Not just rebuilding it — rebuilding it with the aim of making it stronger, more attractive, better.When a historic area is destroyed, it is gone forever. Let's not emulate the tornado that ripped through our lives on April 27, 2011. Let's not destroy any areas of our city without taking a long, hard look at what we are destroying.

Anne R. Gibbons, a native Tuscaloosan, lives in the Hillcrest Historic District. She wrote this on behalf of Preserve Tuscaloosa, a group whose stated mission is to preserve structures and neighborhoods that contribute to Tuscaloosa's history and sense of place.